Councilor urges Bacolod City to study Bulacan water move

BACOLOD CITY – Councilor Wilson Gamboa Jr. urged the city government to draw lessons from San Jose del Monte City, Bulacan, where the local government intervened in a chronic water supply shortage and brought in Metro Pacific Water on an interim basis.

Citing a Manila Standard report dated June 5, 2026, Gamboa pointed to San Jose del Monte’s use of a city ordinance as a model for asserting local government leadership in addressing water service problems.

The Bulacan city’s approach allowed the local government to appoint Metro Pacific Water in an interim and consultancy capacity, including procurement-related functions, to help stabilize its water distribution system.

For Gamboa, the key lesson is that a local government should remain in control of the solution while working with a private utility provider.

He said Bacolod should adopt the same principle as it deals with concerns involving PrimeWater Infrastructure Corp., the private partner of the Bacolod City Water District.

The city government, he stressed, must be “above the problem” and should not be subservient to private interests.

Gamboa clarified that this position is not a rejection of partnerships with private water corporations.

Rather, he said, such arrangements should be treated as partnerships, not as a total transfer or abrogation of the city government’s fundamental mandate to ensure the delivery of water, which he described as the most basic public service.

This also means Bacolod should not consider itself permanently bound to PrimeWater if the company fails to meet its obligations under its joint venture agreement with BACIWA, according to Gamboa.

Should a more capable and responsive private entity emerge, the city government and appropriate water authorities may explore alternative arrangements, provided these comply with law and contract.

Any shift toward another investor, however, must be anchored on a comprehensive, science-based and transparent Water Master Plan.

Gamboa said such a plan should outline Bacolod’s long-term strategy for water sourcing, watershed protection, infrastructure development, service expansion and sustainability.

Beyond exploring alternatives, Gamboa also pressed the city government to set clear and objective standards for evaluating PrimeWater’s performance under its joint venture agreement with BACIWA.

These standards should cover water supply reliability, service quality, infrastructure development, watershed management, environmental sustainability and customer satisfaction.

The San Jose del Monte experience, he added, should serve as both a warning and a lesson for Bacolod City.

Instead of becoming overly dependent on its existing water utility company, Bacolod should lead the delivery of water services through a collaborative arrangement with a private entity and a city ordinance that clearly defines public oversight.

At the center of Gamboa’s proposal is a stronger role for City Hall in planning, monitoring and regulating water service delivery.

Such an approach, he said, would ensure that private participation supports, rather than replaces, the government’s responsibility to secure reliable water for residents and businesses.